The present invention relates to clocks having audio reproductions provided thereby and, more particularly, to clocks providing multiple displays and selected audio reproductions.
Music by machine, such as bell striker assemblies, music boxes and the like, has been used for centuries to annunciate the passage of increments of time. Typically, individual clocks providing such music have used a variety of mechanically or electronically generated audio passages to provide this result. For instance, the famous "Big Ben" at the Houses of Parliament in London, England, uses a centuries old mechanically actuated mechanism to strike bells in a prescribed sequence and at prescribed times to produce the well-known Westminster chimes. That clock mechanism enjoys distinction and fame primarily for two reasons: the particular music passage provided, and the particular sound characteristics of the bells used therein. Back to Renaissance times, and even before, equally distinctive clocks have been constructed in many countries of the world, each playing either a music specifically originated therefor, or playing music with a novel mechanical playing arrangement, or both. However, even though many clocks could play different musical compositions on the music playing arrangement therein, each was restricted to its music playing arrangement.
Typically, in conjunction with the annunciation of time increments by music, and also long before such annunciations, the passage of time increments was displayed by the analog movement of a structure ("hands") over some sort of dial face. Usually (until relatively recently), this was a mechanical arrangement using appropriate gearing to divide days into hours, hours into minutes, and minutes into seconds to an extent depending on the time resolution desired to be displayed. In nearly all of these arrangements, all of the analog structure used for movement in the displays, and everything needed to result in such movement, was operated by a single motor so that accurate synchronization between each element involved was preserved. This approach is efficient if only relatively simple gear arrangements are required, or if only a very small number of different time related displays are used. However, the method becomes cumbersome and expensive if more complex gear arrangements are required to display, for instance, the ordinary time of the day and, simultaneously, the position of the moon with respect to the earth. The use of mechanical gear arrangements also limits where the analog structures in the displays can be placed due to the requirement that all of the gears directly interact in some manner while being driven by a single rotary motion device, or motor, in conjunction with physical size limitations of the gears used. Thus, there is the desire for a clock system permitting access to a variety of different music passages from which to select one to annunciate increments of time, and to permit providing a variety of time related displays.